How We Came To Be
by TwiddledSpire
Summary: A sequel of sorts to Born or Cursed? Elsa gets to meet her predecessor, and discover the truth and history behind her powers. One-shot.


**Disclaimer: Just had a Disney marathon on Youtube, whootwhoot!**

**A sequel of sorts to my other story: Born or Cursed? One-shot.**

**How We Came To Be**

_By TwiddledSpire_

"Hello."

A glass smashed to the wooden floor, a scream erupting from a girl's mouth. The girl – now woman, whipped her braided head at the direction the voice had come from.

No-one.

But she had heard the voice clear and strong, it had been no whisper. The Queen threw her arm up, hand flexed and open in front of her, blue eyes narrowed into icy shards.

"Who's there?!"

There wasn't an immediate response, just silence. Eyes scanned her room, looking for a black shadow on a white wall, a brush of a curtain, or a creaking of the floor boards.

"I know you're in here somewhere, show yourself now and I won't hurt you!" Hurt, no. Freeze into an unmovable block of ice, yes. Her graceful feet lead her to a curtain blowing softly from the open window, her eyes still scanning as she whipped the curtain back, quickly glancing. No-one there.

"Try the mirror, I want to see you again." The voice replied at last, it had a quiet warmth about it, and a touch of mischief. It couldn't have been Anna hiding in the closest again.

The Queen made her way cautiously to the mirror, still turning this way and that, heart thundering in anxiousness, blood drilling with adrenaline. She arrived at the centre of the room, where she would have enough room to dive away from an attack, and stood in front of the long mirror hung on the wall. She waited for the voice again, and the Queen had the feeling she was being analysed, silently critiqued. Usually the Queen was a patient, warm and reserved host, but this time she was on edge and impatient.

Just as she was about to demand the whereabouts of her surprise-guest, it spoke with what sounded like approval and a touch of pride.

"How quant, it's like I'm looking into a mirror." The voice laughed and the Queen could now tell it was feminine and harmless in tone. She didn't let up on her guard though. The Queen of Arendelle, seeing no intruder in the room, turned to the mirror and froze.

It was a woman with a likeness so similar to her own; tall, graceful, blonde-haired and blue-eyed with skin so pale she could have been a ghost. The gown the woman wore was different though, more snow than her own ice.

"Ah, that's better." The woman spoke, eyes sparkling with life, "You look healthy, strong even. I'm glad."

"You know me." It wasn't a question, and it was obvious that this woman knew her on a more intimate level.

The woman in the mirror held her head higher and gave what seemed to be a genuine smile, "Queen Elsa of Arendelle, daughter of Queen Helen and King Andrew, former monarchs of the throne." Elsa was struck by how warm the smile was and despite her suspicion, she was becoming less tense, and more intrigued than threatened. A warm breeze slid through the room, brushing the slicked bangs against Elsa's hair.

"Why are you here?"

"Here to see you of course, since you're my successor." The woman in the mirror walked a little closer, the gown swishing slightly and lightly folded her arms. "To be blunt, you got your powers from me."

Questions exploded in Elsa's mind, and the woman in the mirror watched as the Queen lost her composure and took half a step back, more of a lost girl than a strong queen. It was fine, understandable even. It was also nice to be on the other side of the mirror this time.

"I met your mother just a few months after you were conceived, searching for a girl who met the conditions to take the mantle from me, I am, in a word, your spiritual mother."

Elsa's stance seemed to improve, the shock wearing off enough for her to stand stronger this time. "H-How," she forced herself to push back her shock, regain her composure, "How? _Why?"_

All of her father's lessons about concealing emotions, maintaining control over any situation were lost on her that day, the reveal and origin of her powers enough to overwhelm her into little more than a stuttering child struggling to understand.

"I am the one of the many Incarnations of Winter, all of us have controlled the season and its powers, we do not know why, but it has simply become something we accept and live with. We are often lonely, isolated, free, but empty at heart, frozen by distance and feared by many."

Elsa was gently told to sit down, there was much to be told and too much to take in at once. Elsa would recall the entire conversation, having a fantastic memory when she curled up in bed later that night. She learned she was the current mortal form of Winter, and would have to (like her predecessors) seek a daughter to pass her powers onto, they needed to fulfil the conditions of a selection process before the Winter would accept them. Only when she died would the powers manifest in the chosen daughter, and it would be her responsibility to inform the girl once it was time of their shared past.

It was speculation, passed down the generations of Ice and Snow Queens, that their powers came to be because of love. This love was formed from the love a child had most for something in this world, it had wished for Winter and wished it could always be so.

This innocent and pure expression of love touched Winter's essence and it began to grow within this child, the first daughter and the first Snow Queen. There was a passing comment about the summer having some mortal form on the Earth at this moment in time, and rumours its connection with its last holder mysteriously cut, severed.

"But you don't need to know that for now, right now we're here to clear up this misconception of yours that your powers derived from a curse. I see sadness and self-rejection has burdened you in the past and now I'm here to tell you that you have done a fine job in accepting your gift. Self-acceptance and love will always control our powers, and fear will forever be our enemy."

Were they all simply an echo of each other? The woman in the mirror wondered, were they destined to live the same life, with a different face in a different place but forced to live through the same pain? She watched the girl on the chair, able to empathise with the current Queen of Arendelle more than the girl knew. Right now Elsa didn't look happy in the slightest, again, something she recalled feeling.

Elsa was shaking in anger in the leather chair, arms resting heavily on the wooden arms and beginning to tense. The room dropped in temperature and small snowflakes manifested in the air, dusting the carpet. "Why tell me this _now_? How could you have left this while – while I was _alone_, and _confused_, and – and _dangerous_?"

The Ice Woman, or "Annika" as she liked to call herself, gave her a sympathetic look, as though it had struck a nerve that had once been there too, "The conditions were not met." This simple answer drove Elsa over the edge, pain resurfacing from years of repression and anger, confusion and this need to be _loved _and _accepted_. All because there were a few boxes she hadn't ticked.

Her usually quiet and soft-spoken voice grew rich and powerful as it allowed raw emotion to pass through her lips. "Conditions?! How – How could these _conditions_ be so important that you could leave your so called 'spiritual daughter' to feel this way about herself, and be so dangerous to people – a kingdom even?!" She had risen from the chair and crossed the room to the mirror, the snowflakes gracing the floor now becoming icy jagged spears. Her pretty face twisted with so many emotions the Ice Woman saw herself in that same instant, teeth clenched and eyes screwed shut – probably to stop tears of rage and pain, and plain confusion.

She had to be frank with the girl though, as there was no real way to comfort her. She may have a caring side to her, but she refused to give her warmth when she could not make a situation that had happened any better, even though she felt a strange rush of affection for this new Incarnation.

"Do you expect me to apologise for rules we must follow? I felt the same way, just as many incarnations have felt, the 'conditions' are in place for a reason, and that is to protect everyone. Admittedly these rules can be absolutely frustrating to bear, but it _is _necessary to follow them, this I promise." Annika pressed a naked hand to the glass and her eyes, just a touch darker in shade than Elsa's, pierced into the braided woman's eyes.

A silence fell over both and Elsa struggled to comprehend what it was she felt towards this woman, she wasn't used to knowing what she felt other than longing and sadness. It wasn't too different from right now, actually.

Annika waited for Elsa to speak when she was ready, and took the time to admire the girl's (because she really was just a girl to her) room. It was pale, regal and full of books on the wooden shelf, decked with many fairy tales from childhood. Other books were about… boring, royal things, it was subtle, but Annika could see the spines creased from years of reading and constant turning to the next page, waiting for the next chapter. One interesting looking book stood in a corner, 'Frankenstein', from the looks of it, it had been read quite a few times…

The bed, as was expected of royalty, was huge and soft-looking, a four poster bed with curtains around it and pressed against a wall, with a chest of drawers and a marvellous wardrobe beside it which took up one entire wall of the room. A dressing table was near the bed too, with many jewels carefully hidden away in boxes. A carpet was draped across the wooden floorboards, long and rectangular, stretching from the window (next to the bed) to the door on the far side of the room. Annika couldn't see the wall the mirror was up against also ironically housed a small fireplace where the chair Elsa was still sitting on was usually placed.

All in all, it was a lovely looking room, mature and held a certain elegance about it. A touch too pale though, a wall in blue wallpaper would be nice, perhaps with a snowflake pattern—

"I… forgive you." Elsa decided at last.

Annika blinked out of her daze which had lead her eyes to the window. "I'm sorry?"

"I forgive you… for not… telling me about any of this sooner. I understand that rules or 'conditions' must be followed, my position as Queen plays heavily on that sort of thing. I am, however," Elsa thought of how honest Anna was (probably worried that she'd spent all day in her room) with her emotions, how important it was to establish just where she stood with people.

Elsa continued, "I am, extremely upset about this. And angry that I've been so uninformed when I needed to know about my past the most."

"Well, that's a start. I'm sorry the rules are, for better lack of a word, utter crap." Annika gave a small smile.

Elsa stood and walked to the mirror again, and while she would always feel angry about this, she needed to know more, everything even. "Where did you hear about these conditions?"

"That's something you will learn for yourself, let's just say I didn't tell you everything." Annika put her hand up against the mirror again and Elsa understood the gesture. She placed her own hand against the mirror where Annika's hand was and a rush of ice (strangely not unpleasant) surged through them, a connection forming.

Elsa thumbed the mirror in careful consideration. "How are we able to talk anyway, is this mirror magic too?"

Annika laughed, "You made this mirror, and so have all the other Incarnations, it's how we connect when we talk. I must say this one is much nicer than the last one you made, very clear, lovely quality."

Elsa frowned slightly, thin eyebrows dropping in confusion. "Other one? I don't follow."

The Ice Queen flexed her fingers, comparing her fingers to Elsa's slightly longer ones. "There's one in the palace you made, which I still have yet to see. I would be careful when handling that mirror, by the way."

Elsa thumbed the mirror, pressing a cold thumb against it, testing its solidity. "Why, aren't all mirrors delicate?"

"Well, yes. But the mirror in the palace was created by negative emotions, emotion is key to handling magic, it's a danger to others otherwise, as you know." Her eyes briefly looked into Elsa's who looked away in shame, she hadn't meant for the look to be taken as an accusation.

Anymore conversation the two might have had was interrupted by knocking on the door, it was Anna's signature knock, a new eccentric thing her sister had come up with now that she was sure the door would be open to her now.

"Elsa? Who are you talking to in there? Are you okay?" The cheery voice confirmed it as her bubbly sister. Annika looked extremely curious about the person on the other side of the door, but knew she was going to have to leave and come back another day.

"A-Anna! Wait there, I'm, um…"

"Not decent?" Annika offered with a smirk, eyes twinkling again and shining with mirth.

"Not decent!" Elsa blurted, pinking when she realised what she had just said, she shot Annika a glare for ruining her usual state of grace and composure. But it was too late to take it back and the excuse worked.

Behind the door Anna flushed red against the frosted door, immediately switching from concerned to embarrassed and springing back. "O-oh, sorry, well not sorry you're _naked, _why would I – I mean _you, _be sorry about that? I mean it's completely normal and I'm just gonna stop talking now. Now. Okay _now._" Anna held her breath and puffed her cheeks, catching her tongue between her teeth just to be extra careful.

She strained her ears to catch the voice of whoever might be in there, maybe it was Olaf (he had been complaining that he hadn't got a hug from Elsa for ages). A passing servant gave her a bemused look as they passed, closing a window on the way down the long corridor.

Elsa sighed in relief and turned back to Annika who was struggling to stop herself from laughing. "Don't you dare laugh, it's bad enough as it is, she doesn't need to know you're here." Elsa glared, cheeks still red, voice low.

Annika held an elegant hand to her curling mouth, giggling profusely behind it. "She sounds absolutely charming, can't I stay a while?" Elsa made shooing motions with her hands, since she couldn't show her guest out the door, or even from the mirror, Annika would have to go back wherever she came from.

But she'd come back, right?

The Queen looked back at her predecessor, desperate, but Annika was already walking away, snow cloak billowing behind her, finger swishing about drawing words into the air. Elsa watched her go until Annika disappeared from her field of vision. She went to the door and opened it as friendly a smile she could muster on her vaguely pink face.

Only to be met with a red Anna with her cheeks puffed out.

"What's with the… the um," Elsa gestured at her face, only _slightly _distracted. Anna finally breathed again, now that Elsa was decent, and clothed, and looking really nice in clothes, not that she wouldn't look nice _without _clothes, and that was a really weird thought –

"Anna?" Just to get her attention Elsa pressed a frost-covered hand to her sister's forehead, fingers stretching to run through soft locks of copper, her sister had a habit of zoning out sometimes, another new thing she had learned and many more habits to learn about.

"I-I'm fine. Are you fine? You look fine. Not that kind of fine!" Anna slapped a hand to her head and groaned, why did she turn into such an idiot whenever she was around her sister?

Elsa laughed, charmed by Anna's adorable behaviour.

"So who were you talking to in there?" Anna had to tip-toe slightly to look over Elsa's shoulder, the only thing she could see was a mirror frosted over and an open window. That was new.

"I was just," Elsa fished around for a reason, any reason. "Reading aloud, for when I give speeches, I want to make sure I'm practiced." That sounded good. Anna had the distinct feeling that her sister wasn't telling her whole truth, but it wasn't important enough to push her sister into telling her, so she let it slide. After all, who read aloud when they were naked?

Instead the redhead, or strawberry blonde (Elsa still couldn't decide even after 18 years) took Elsa's arm in hers. "Sounds great, but I know something even better, come on! You'll love it!"

Looking back at the mirror one last time Elsa saw something written on the mirror in frost -

'Give Kai and Gerda my regards.'

**Aaaand that's that. So annoying, I've been planning another story but couldn't summon the "get-up-and-go" to start, and then I decided to write this little number with no issues whatsoever. Gahh.**

**Drop a review if you liked (or didn't).**


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